Pronunciation 26/11/2015

Hi Laura,

I really enjoyed our first lesson together.

One of the issues I picked up is a challenge that most French people have when speaking English and that is pronunciation.

In today's lesson we will be going over some of the main mistakes that native French speakers make and we will be trying to correct them

      1. The 'R'
Say the following phrase:

right red lorry great

In French the 'R' is made from the back of the mouth, whereas in English the 'R' is said more in the front of the mouth.

Try this one: Four thirty in the afternoon

   2. Vowel rounding

Many French centre and front vowels use rounded lips, whereas in English they would be made with neutral lips – the sound is very different:

The first thing I heard was a scream.

3. th

French does not contain dental fricatives θ or ð, speakers often replace these with /s/ and /z/:

We’ll see them on Thursday, I think.

4. h

The glottal fricative /h/ does not exist in French, it does in English:

house home holiday Harry

5. /ɪ/ vs. /i:/

French has just one close front vowel [i], English has two: /ɪ/ and /i:/ – /ɪ/ should be made with a slightly lower jaw, but French speakers often just use the one position for these vowels:

ship / sheep

fit / feet
rid / read

     6. Word Stress

French tends to stress the last syllable of a long word, English does not:

father corruption absolutely computer

7. Intonation

French has a very unique melody – it is often flat and high with rising patterns. English is generally uses falling patterns more and has a greater difference in stress:

Where do you think we should go?
I don’t see how it is that important.

8. Open vowels /æ/ vs /ɑ:/

French contains one open vowel unrounded: [a], English contains 2: /æ/ (cat) /ɑ:/ (cart) so French often the French [a] instead:

hat heart
ham harm
had hard

Next, let us practice some difficult ones:

Liz

Squirrel

Hedgehog

Rarely

Thorough

Sheets

Focus

Please try and get some good English books and start to read, out-loud, to begin to improve